On 10 December 1992 Keating gave a speech on Aboriginal reconciliation addressing issues faced by indigenous Australians such as their land and children being taken away. This speech became known as The Redfern Address. It was given in Redfern Park to a crowd of predominantly indigenous people. Although it was not given a lot of media attention at the time it is now regarded by many to be one of the greatest Australian speeches. Keating was the first Australian prime minister to publicly acknowledge to Indigenous Australians that European settlers were responsible for the difficulties Australian Aboriginal communities continued to face: ‘We committed the murders. We took the children from their mothers. We practiced discrimination and exclusion. It was our ignorance and our prejudice’.

In 2007, ABC Radio National listeners voted the speech as their third most “unforgettable speech” behind Martin Luther King’s I have a dream speech (number one) and Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (number two).

Leanne Tobin is a Darug artist. In the video she talks about the creation and conceptualisation of the three murals at MQ, and what it means for her to be a Darug woman and an artist working on-country. Read more about the Mural Project here.

This film was made by the DEC for teaching Aboriginal languages in secondary school, but there are excellent stories from Aunty Edna Watson (Darug woman) and others that are suitable for primary children.

On 10 December 1992 Keating gave a speech on Aboriginal reconciliation addressing issues faced by indigenous Australians such as their land and children being taken away. This speech became known as The Redfern Address. It was given in Redfern Park to a crowd of predominantly indigenous people. Although it was not given a lot of media attention at the time it is now regarded by many to be one of the greatest Australian speeches. Keating was the first Australian prime minister to publicly acknowledge to Indigenous Australians that European settlers were responsible for the difficulties Australian Aboriginal communities continued to face: ‘We committed the murders. We took the children from their mothers. We practiced discrimination and exclusion. It was our ignorance and our prejudice’.

In 2007, ABC Radio National listeners voted the speech as their third most “unforgettable speech” behind Martin Luther King’s I have a dream speech (number one) and Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (number two).

This film is the big picture! It cover a lot of concepts that are crucial to understanding how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people understand the world from their particular standpoints around Australia. For example, we learn that there are many different dreamings, not just one. It also covers the effects of British invasion and colonisation.

This clip tells the story of a cross-cultural relationship between Lieutenant Dawes and Aboriginal woman, Patyegarang in the early years of the settlement at Sydney Cove. Lieutenant Dawes established an observatory just under where the harbour bridge is now located, and Patyegarang would visit him there, and teach him Darug.

SBD: the relationship between Patyegarang and Lieutenant William Dawes:

This film was made by the DEC for teaching Aboriginal languages in secondary school, but there are excellent stories from Aunty Edna Watson (Darug woman) and others that are suitable for primary children.

This clip tells the story of a cross-cultural relationship between Lieutenant Dawes and Aboriginal woman, Patyegarang in the early years of the settlement at Sydney Cove. Lieutenant Dawes established an observatory just under where the harbour bridge is now located, and Patyegarang would visit him there, and teach him Darug.

SBD: the relationship between Patyegarang and Lieutenant William Dawes:

Pre-service teachers at MQ worked with renowned Aboriginal Darug artist, Leanne Tobin and her family to create three murals on campus, a mural with a story which comes from Darug country, in Sydney.

The students were learning what Aboriginal art is by working alongside the artist, rather than learning about Aboriginal art from lectures and books.

They learnt that Aboriginal country produces its own art style and its own story, and to take Aboriginal art out of country and put it in a book is to divorce it from its place, its meaning and its story. Aboriginal art is a practice, an education of children and adults.

These pre-service teachers were also learning how to work with their own school community when they go into schools as fully trained teachers.

Read more about place-based education and the origin of this project here.

Listen to this interview below with Leanne Tobin about the project:

FRESHWATER/SEA COUNTRY (BADU/GURRIGARRANG NORA)

This is the country of the Wallumedigal, the Snapperfish people, a saltwater clan of the Darug who live around the northern waterways of the Parramatta River and Sydney harbour.

The mural was created in 2013 by Leanne Tobin, her brother Chris Tobin and her son, Shay, along with pre-service teachers from Macquarie University for a Community Indigenous Arts Project.

The mural shows the meeting of fresh and saltwater along the Parramatta River, while the flora and fauna represent the totems of various clans living along the length of the river from the heads of Port Jackson in the morning to the upper reaches of the river at night.

The shark and stingray represented at the entrance to the harbour (below) are of special significance to the creation of the landscape of the region. Long ago, the shark and stingray engaged in extended battle and as they did so, they gouged out the bays and inlets of Port Jackson.

Jacinta is from the Boorooberongal clan (Richmond area). Her family heritage goes back to Yarramundi, and then later Sarah Castles (nee Locke). In the video she talks about connections to country, and her concerns about environmental sustainability on Darug land.

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Textbook

Teaching and Learning in Aboriginal Education by Neil Harrison is easy to understand and informative. The book balances the practical, the personal and the theoretical to convey the richness of diversity that is found within Australian classrooms.